One of the ways you can help yourself spend less is to think about money and shopping differently. Well that's basically it, isn't it?!
But I have a several tricks that help with cutting my own spending when I feel I'm exceeding my personal spending goals.
Think about the amount of money you had to earn to buy what ever a caught your eye.
Okay, what does that mean? Well, let's assume you want to buy something that costs $80 dollars (yes, I'm picking numbers that make the math easier). Maybe you don't need the item, but it is so shiny!
Well - how much money did you have to earn to have $80 to spend? Let's assume some tax rates. Married with children averaged
under a 10% tax rate, and singletons with no kids average 25%, but
typically pay 15% - 20% aggregated tax rate. We'll just use 20% for the exercise.
So you had to earn $100 dollars to buy the item. Yup. It's not 80$, it's 100$ of your pretax earnings.
How do you use this in the field?
Mark everything up at least 20% when you look at the price.
Cost: 0$
Don't buy when the urge strikes.
See something awesome? Must have it? Give it a week. Still need it? Probably not. Do not impulse buy.
How does this look in the field? Don't carry credit cards so you aren't tempted to spend. Build a cart at the on-line site and wait a week before buying. (This is very helpful in a second way: I actually build a cart with our needed household items as my shopping list, so I don't forget stuff.)
Cost: 0$
Closet Shop
Need new clothes? Go though your whole closet. You will totally find stuff you forgot. Spend a day just putting together new outfits. Do this for any sort of shopping. Convinced you have nothing to cook at home? Spent your budget on food already? Force yourself to use whats in the cabinets. Have a hobby? Really want to buy more yarn/fabric/insert thing needed for your hobby here? Go look though what you already have.
Cost: 0$
Borrow things
Borrow items instead of purchasing. So borrow books and videos from the public
library. Need a tool? Borrow from a
local tool library. Can't find a local library? Borrow from a neighbor. Email a local neighbors group - you can search
google or
yahoo groups - to see if you can borrow the item.
Cost: 0$
Trade Things
Find someone who has the thing or service you want and trade for it. I know a ton of moms who do this. Examples: They work a few hours for a company and than get to take yoga classes. They form a babysitting co-op and all take turns watching each other's children. I'll do your taxes if you build this cabinet - barter, the way we used to make almost all our purchases!
Cost: 0$
Look for free or used things
Look around for free stuff. For instance, I live near a very, very tony neighborhood. I find the most amazing, new, things on the street. Wooden doll houses. Tricycles. I also make it known that I am happy to take hand me downs - kids clothes, and toys, etc. You can also join a
local Freecycle group where folks are offering items for free to keep them out of the landfill.
Cost 0$
Share ownership on items
Basically buy things you use infrequenlty with a freind or neighbor and share ownership.
Cost 1/2 what you would spend$
Happy Thinking About Shopping Differently!
-daslael
